When we moved to Fort Smith we loved sitting on our porch, walking around our neighborhood and being in such close proximity to downtown and the riverfront. Unfortunately, much of Fort Smith doesn’t seem to feel the same way about the area. We soon discovered that downtown Fort Smith and it’s surrounding neighborhoods are under-appreciated. It’s easy to focus on vacant lots and dilapidated buildings (commercial and residential), or even imagine the bygone days of the Old West and the Fort Smith of True Grit, but it’s much harder to imagine a modern and vibrant future here.

Above: detail of the Vhils mural

Recently, however, Fort Smith played host to the Unexpected Project: Festival of Murals which seemed to hint at a way forward. Over about a week of festivities, eleven murals were painted on downtown Fort Smith buildings. The Festival was part of 64.6 Downtown which “is committed to bringing vibrancy to downtown Fort Smith and the Riverfront. Downtown is our heart and soul, and quality of place is essential to Fort Smith’s future economic and community growth. We invite you to share our vision with us.”

The whole thing felt pretty refreshing for downtown Fort Smith, and even though a number of the murals featured Western motifs, they had a modern edge.

One of our favorites was by VHILS (above) which was based off the earliest images of Cherokee Indians. For a town that often seems stuck to it’s past as the last outpost before Indian Territory, it’s a pretty powerful image to have looming over downtown. The technique used was also different than the rest of the murals:

“Layers of white and dark plaster were applied over the bricks of the old Malco Theater building to give the artist a canvas for what is now the face of a Native American.” You can read more about it here.

You may not know this, but Westervin has been rocking the blog for 5 years! Yep, earlier this month marked the 5th straight year that we, Sarah and Brian, have been sharing our favorite recipes, tidbits from our lives, and all the beautiful art and handicraft that we love. Heck, we’ve been blogging longer than we’ve been married. Before we were officially engaged even!

In the grand scheme of our lives, 5 years is a small amount of time, yet between December 2009 (the official launch of this here web-log) and today, we’ve shared a seemingly infinite number of moments, big and small, of excitement and inspiration, of frustration and failures, and of accomplishment and growth. Though at times we’ve felt like we’ve outgrown our blog or we’ve put unnecessary pressure on ourselves to be constantly publishing, worrying about being original and interesting, we’re ultimately so very grateful to have had this platform. It’s given us an outlet for our respective interests and talents through which we’ve connected with countless talented folk and new friends. And now, we have a shared record of our time together. Through changing jobs, educational accomplishments, and new cities, we can look back to remember all the moments we’re most proud, if not also all the strange things we used to be into… Tastes are not timeless, apparently. At least, that’s one thing we’ve learned about ourselves.

Yes, time has certainly flown by. We thought we’d take a look through the past five years and pick out a few of our favorite and most popular posts. Journey back with us, won’t you?

2009

Though we only officially blogged for one month in 2009, that year saw the beginning of many of our favorite blog categories, including one that Sarah’s stuck with since the very first week: A Pretty Pair (formerly Daily Pretties). Can we call this her signature category? Over the years she’s perfected the art of pairing, searching for two works — whether photography, painting, illustration, or other — from two unrelated artists that speak the same visual language. In the words of Stacey and Clinton, it doesn’t match, it goes.

Also, through the magic of the pretty pair, we announced our engagement, way back on December 29, 2009, with this post titled Some Special News. It’s like… we are a pretty pair! Ya know?

2010

Twenty-ten was the year of the giveaway. In that year, we had 14 giveaways! That’s more giveaways than months! Each one featured something beautiful, usually handmade, generously gifted by someone talented and kind. A few shout-outs to our most memorable sweepstakes:

The most popular: Kathryn Blackmore gave away a Sailor Knot Necklace from her romantic jewelry line The Vamoose, which still offers gorgeous handmade pieces.

Our favorite: Lorena Marañon offered one of her wildly popular embroidered necklaces to try to help us win a dream wedding sweepstakes. Sadly, we didn’t win, but we still had a dream wedding! Lorena’s now whipping up painfully stunning textiles-based jewelry, housewares, and art pieces.

2011

Our second full year of blogging was all about our wedding, from the announcements, planning updates, and DIY projects to the series of posts sharing all the photos and our reflections from, arguably, the most fun day of our lives. Man, what a ride!

See all the posts under A Westervin Wedding, which also includes posts celebrating each of our three anniversaries since. You can even check out all of our wedding pinspiration on Sarah’s Pinterest board A Wedding for Westervin. Truth be told, she still pins wedding-y things. The girl loves weddings.

2012

In 2012 we were really hitting our stride and created some of our most popular posts. A few of our favorites:

Edible booze: We created a margarita jello shot for world party day. We made way too many of these jello filled booze lemons, but people seemed to like them.

Taking care of business: Sarah posted the results of her Who Buys Handmade survey, which still offers a valuable look at the handmade market for makers.

Sweet treats: We were lucky enough to have Debbie Carlos, who just can’t stop doing amazing things, guest blog for us and share a recipe for a 60-second cake in a cup, which has become a dessert staple at the Westervin’s. Debbie’s large-scale photo prints and other work can be seen everywhere from Urban Outfitters, J. Crew, and CB2 to Apartment Therapy, Better Homes & Gardens, HGTV, and even an episode of Parenthood.

Fancy cocktail post: Brian was hired to create a signature cocktail for Poetry magazine’s centennial celebration. It was called the Hippocrene, and it got a nice writeup on the New York Times Drinks blog.

Glitz and glamour: Sarah created a spinoff of the classic pretty pair category, Who are You Pairing, which pairs red carpet looks and some awesome art.

2013

2013 was the start of the Westervin craft movment. Sure, we’d covered craft before (with the Who Buys Handmade survey, and featured handmade wares and independent artisans), but 2013 was the launch of the Westervin shop! Starting her own shop had Sarah thinking even more about craft in general, it’s history and it’s relation to art. A few highlights:

2014

While 2013 was the start of the Westervin craft movement, 2014 found us moving away from ruminations on art vs craft and taking a closer look at the nuts and bolts of running a craft business. It’s important to us to share what we learn along the way so that other aspiring crafters can learn from our mistakes and, hopefully, our successes. Highlights include:

Guess what?! On September 3, we celebrated our third anniversary! This was a pretty exciting anniversary because we realized a new anniversary tradition that we really should have thought of before. Anniversary doughnuts!

We didn’t have cake at our wedding, we had doughnuts, so of course we should eat some doughnuts every year! How did it take us three years to think of this? Oh well, we still have a lifetime ahead of us, so I guess it’s never too late.

This year’s doughnuts came from the Donut Palace here in Fort Smith. We caught them just before they closed and snatched up some tasty sprinkled and glazed doughnuts. The friendly staff there even threw in a free bag of doughnut holes, which we nearly finished off before getting back home…

Before heading off to dinner and a movie that evening, we shared a little bubbly.

And, of course, what Westervin anniversary would be complete without some new rings? This year, in reverence to our “leather anniversary“, we picked out a pair of leather rings that keep the arrow motif of our original wedding band set. While a little higher maintenance than metal rings (we have to be very careful not to get them wet), we think they turned out beautifully. They were handmade by Cassandra Silva of Oil Rose Collection. According to Cassandra, the arrow motifs represent friendship and protection.

We’re not just celebrating Labor Day and having a day off from work today—we’re also celebrating our first anniversary! It’s hard to believe we were married exactly one year ago. This year has flown by!

And you know what? It’s been a great year, and we can’t wait to tackle the next one. But before we do, we wanted to take a quick look back…

I bet you thought we were done talking about our Dollymoon, huh? Well guess again! We had enough fun to fill a million blog recaps!!! But don’t worry–we’ll just boil the rest down to two more posts.

After bidding farewell to Gatlinburg and Dollywood, it was on to Louisville. Along the way, we passed through Bourbon/horse country, which meant we had to make at least one quick stop for a distillery tour.

We chose to stop in Versailles, Kentucky to check out Woodford Reserve because it was pretty easy to get to while still seeming pretty rural.

Overall, Woodford is a pretty small operation, and we got to see most of it. They were fermenting a chocolate rye while we were there, which smelled amazing. I can’t wait to try some…in five or so years when it’s ready.

Past the fermentor tanks were the three stills, which are from Scotland.

We saw that after the spirits work their way through the stills, they are barreled and rolled along a track to the aging warehouse.

I think the aging warehouse may have been our favorite part. Just upon walking into the warehouse, you’re overwhelmed by the sweet smell of the aging Bourbon. In a good way.

And after checking out the bottling process, we got to sample some Woodford and have a Bourbon Ball. Thanks Woodford!

Are you ready for our next Dollymoon recap? You look ready! After a couple days in Nashville, it was time to change it up. We headed to Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for beautiful mountains, touristy kitsch, and Dollywood! We were staying just outside of Gatlinburg at the Buckhorn Inn.

We had our own little house with two bedrooms, a jacuzzi, and a deck that overlooked the wooded nature trails on the property.

But we didn’t leave Nashville to soak up some nature, though. We left for Dollywood.

Dollywood might have started off as a Silver Dolly City, and it certainly still has the “Craftsman’s Valley” area, but now it has some pretty wild roller coasters including the new Wild Eagle.

Sadly, we missed seeing Dolly (she had visited the weekend before), but we did get to see inside her tour bus (pink and flowers and butterflies everywhere!) and go shopping in “Dolly’s Closet”. Needless to say, Sarah walked away with a pretty snazzy souvenir T-shirt…

After long Dollywood days, nothing beats relaxing in a cabin with some sparking wine.

And the beautiful views from the main Inn. Those are the great Smoky Mountains, folks.

We took a relaxing walk through their nature trail. They even have a labyrinth! Not as thrilling as Dollywood, but still kinda cool.

On our last day we decided to explore Gatlinburg, which is the gateway to the Smoky Mountain National Park. It’s a crazy kitschy tourist town…with a kind of alpine theme.

If you ever go, make sure you take the skylift. It’s a little scary if you don’t like heights, but the views are worth it.

After some nature views, we walked over to the Ole Smoky Moonshine distillery right in downtown and enjoyed some bluegrass music.

…and a moonshine tasting. Many of their flavored moonshines are only available in Gatlinburg, so it was pretty cool to be able to try grape, blackberry, lemon drop, pink lemonade, fruit punch, strawberry, and peach moonshine. If you ever come across a jar of their grape or blackberry flavored moonshine, buy one. At least one.

We were really sad to be leaving the awesome Buckhorn breakfasts, but we had to hit the road for Lousiville! Check back next week for our last recaps of our Dollymoon adventure.

We just made it back from our Dollymoon (Dollywood + Honeymoon), and it was probably the best honeymoon that anyone has ever taken. Ever. Oh, you think yours was the best? Let’s just agree that you’re probably wrong and move on with our recap. We’ve got lots to share with you — so much, in fact, that we’re going to break it up into a few different posts. There was just too much fun for one post! Today we’ll take you through the first two days of our trip in Nashville.

We stayed at the Union Station Hotel in downtown Nashville, which was built in 1900 as Nashville’s main train station. It was turned into a hotel after all train service had stopped in the 1980s.

The exterior of the station and the lobby area were clearly pretty fancy. You can certainly tell what an opulent place this would have been in it’s heyday. Although, the station used to have two alligator pits, and we can’t decide if that’s opulence or a sign of a security problem.

We were so happy to be starting our long awaited Dollymoon that we had to capture our excitement with a quick photo right there in that vintage, yellow stairway.

Pretty snazzy room, no? After a food detour to the Germantown Cafe just north of the Capitol Building, we headed to Lower Broadway, the touristy strip with bright lights, live music, and Nashville’s famed honky-tonks.

To be perfectly honest, we expected to be underwhelmed by this part of town. While the area does have its fair share of duds (I’m looking at you, Margaritaville), we had a really fantastic time.

The next morning, we decided we’d better continue the high life and get room service.

Then it was on to the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. There was so much to see there, but we especially liked the display of Hatch Show prints that they had along the third floor wall. It was so inspiring to be so close to instruments and lyric sheets and clothing belonging to all of county music’s legends. Afterward, Sarah decided that she wanted to pick up yodeling…

The endless walls of gold records and the majestic (yes, we said it — majestic) Hall of Fame were also amazing to see.

We made sure to say hello to Elivs (above), our beloved Dolly, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and a few others, and we snapped another honeymoon portrait (albeit, a strange one) in a reflection of copper in the museum. We like to keep things a little weird around here…

After the Hall of Fame, we walked back through Lower Broadway and found a more subdued scene than the night before.

Then it was time for some grub! After grabbing the car, we were off to Arnold’s, which might just be the food highlight of the entire trip! It’s a cafeteria-style place that serves up some classic southern dishes and even throws in a few twists along the way. Spicy chocolate chess pie…yes, please.

After scarfing down far too much food, we headed out to do a little shopping. Our first stop was Savant Vintage, which was packed with cool, but pricey, wares.

Next up was some ranch dressing at Katy K Designs. Sarah splurged on a snazzy pair of white cowgirl boots, and I’m sure she’ll be sharing some photos of those in the near future.

Sadly, between a fantastic midday meal and a show to see that night, that’s about all the shopping we had time for in Nashville. I guess that means we’ll have to go back…

We were a little tired by that point, but it was amazing to see the Alabama Shakes and Jack White at the Ryman. Obviously a great venue, and both bands didn’t disappoint.

After the show, we decided to stop back into Robert’s to grab some fried pickles that we just didn’t have room for the night before.

A fun fifties rock band was playing, which made for a great post-show show. Plus, Brittany Howard from the Alabama Shakes was just hanging out and was kind enough to let Sarah take a picture with her!

Then we rushed off to bed in anticipation of the next leg of our Dolly-tastic journey: Dollywood! We’ll give you the scoop on that fine time, as well as on some surprisingly fun times in Gatlinburg, Tennensse, tomorrow.

While both of these can be great, wouldn’t it be even better if we could combine them? Here’s our proposal: top shelf margarita in a jello shot. No preflavored jello, we’re going to be squeezing some limes ourselves. This gelatin will be equally at home in the casual cofines of college or amongst the disposable income set.

Following the wisdom Gary Reagan’s Joy of Mixology (and if you haven’t been following Gary, I suggest you do) we learn that alcohol + gelatin has been around since at least the mid-1800s, and you can make just about any old-timey cocktail or punch into gelatin if you are careful to adjust the levels of citrus, sugar, and water. Citrus becomes amplified, so it’s a good idea to cut it and/or add some extra sugar. If you are planning on using a cocktail that would have been shaken or stirred over ice, you’ll need to compensate for the water. Reagan suggests calculating the total number of ounces of liquid in a cocktail and using as much extra water as a third of that number. If you’re trying something new, I’d suggest starting with a small batch. You’ll probably have to make a few.

Place the lime juice, simple syrup, and water in a small glass mesuring cup, and add the gelatin. Allow this to sit for one minute, then microwave the mixture on high for thirty seconds. Stir thoroughly to make sure that all the gelatin has dissolved, then add the tequila, triple sec, and food coloring. Stir thoroughly again and pour the mixture into a mold. Refrigerate for at least one hour or, preferably, overnight.

To make the snazzy lemon peel jello shots, you’ll need a handful of large lemons. We had three total, but you might use more for larger parties. Start by cutting the lemons in half, then scraping out the inside, trying to remove as much pith as pothible. Next, we placed each of the empty halves upright on a cookie sheet and filled them with the liquid jello/drink mixture. You may want to use pieces of crumpled tinfoil as supports to keep the lemon halves upright.Then refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

After the jello has… well… jello-ed, slice the halves into thirds. And bam! You’ve got lemon slice jello shots! These margarita slices are especially tasty sprinkled with a bit of sugar.

Have you heard?! Westervin is 2 years old. That’s quite a feat, if we may say so! What’s that? You don’t have a present? Well, that’s ok. Turns out you can wish us well by completing a little reader survey. It’ll help us get a better idea of what you like about Westervin, so we can be even better friends this year. Continue reading →

Every year you can count on getting at least one pair of socks for Christmas, and every year you are probably pretty happy that you have a new pair of socks. After all, socks are important, and you’re pretty lucky to have a brand new pair. But did you know that you don’t have to wear white Hanes socks all the time? There is a better way. A whole world of exciting sockwear, and we’re here to share it with you. The Shopping Sherpa presents: SOCKS…for your feet!